A sweet and charming vision of an America that disappeared long ago. Calling this film old-fashioned hardly covers it; really, much of these proceedings come across as hopelessly square, and without anything that even resembles real-life drama. Nevertheless, there is much joy to be found in this chronicle of a year in the life of a well-to-do heartland family at the beginning of the last century. Judy Garland is, of course, the main draw here. She looks, sings and acts splendidly throughout, and director Vincente Minnelli puts her lovingly on display in virtually every scene; in retrospect, it seems they were almost fated to be together. There are several memorable musical numbers woven into the narrative, and there’s a terrific sequence set on Halloween featuring the very young and mischievous Margaret O’Brien that is a sheer delight. Even the contrived and somewhat overly saturated technicolor camerawork only serves to deliver a heightened sense of fantasy, fun and dreamy romance. As visions of the past go, this one is radically different from what we experience today—and thus it is, perhaps, that much more appealing. The past is like a country you can never visit again, as someone once said…but it sure would be fine to meet the right people there. This is about as close as you can get.
